Crowded House made a welcome return to the Brighton Centre tonight to promote their most recent album ‘Gravity Stairs’. As the houselights at the Centre dimmed, the band walked on stage one at a time, each carrying a lit lantern that was placed by their instrument. It gave the start of the show a rather Dickensian feel, with loud classical music playing over the PA.
Normal service was quickly resumed, however, as the band broke into the classic ‘Weather With You’, with added bouzouki and guitar courtesy of Greek musicians Elias Dendias and Tryfon Baitsis who have temporarily joined the band for this tour. The added instrumentation really gave this timeless classic an extra lift and it sounded amazing.
Next up was ‘Teenage Summer’ from the new album, which sounds so much like Crowded House it feels like it could have been recorded at any point in the band’s career.
The hits kept coming: ‘World Where You Live’ and ‘Something So Strong’ got the crowd singing along. We enjoyed the usual banter between Neil Finn and bass player Nick Seymour. Tonight’s first subject was surfing – who could and couldn’t surf – and whether could you surf in Brighton. The consensus seemed to be no, but even the rather reserved keyboard player Mitchell Froom joined in the discussion.
‘To The Island’, another track from the new record, had Nick Seymour showing off his superior bass skills as he paraded across the stage picking out the bass-heavy notes, the song sounding better live than on record.
The band then went back in time and played the classic Split Ends song ‘Message To My Girl’, closely followed by ‘Fingers Of Love’ and ‘Private Universe’, both taken from what is probably their finest album, ‘Together Alone’.
Towards the end of the set we were treated to a rendition of the theme from Zorba The Greek followed by some rather lovely bouzouki music courtesy of Elias Dendias. The band then launched into ‘Four Seasons In One Day’, which received the most applause of the evening, followed by ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’, another crowd singalong song. The band finished the near two hour set with ‘Distant Sun’, before departing the stage.
They quickly returned for an encore, however, firstly playing a completely off-the-cuff made-up jam that developed into a song they decided to call ‘Saturday Night In Brighton’. The lyrics were courtesy of Neil’s oldest son Liam, and it was a rather fun song that will never be played again or so they said – unless they can remember it, if and when they play live in Brighton again. The penultimate song of the night, ‘A Greater Plan’, touched a sombre note with a dedication to Neil Finn’s father and Liam and Elroy’s grandfather who passed away recently. ‘Better Be Home Soon’ was the crowd’s final singalong of the night and ended another fine night of music by a band still very much at the top of their game.
Support tonight came from Liam Finn, who played a short seven-song set, a mix of guitar-based songs with drum loops and synths. He sounded better on the less experimental tracks and reminded us of Elliot Smith on the last couple of songs. He said that he hoped to release his debut album early next year. Neil Finn’s son is an accomplished musician who can probably give his old man a few guitar tips now.
Brighton Centre, Saturday 12th October 2024
Words by Richard Warran